Wave Bye Bye to Bags, Say Sayonara to Dark Circles and Dance on the Grave of Wrinkles with the New Olay Eyes Range

Ever been smothering your child in sunscreen (or as we call it in my house ‘going into battle’) and thought to yourself; ‘Geez Louise, I wish I could marinate myself in something from the supermarket shelves to completely remove all the signs that I actually have children’ (the dark circles, the fine lines, the puffiness, oh the puffiness)? Surely it’s not just me?

They might have told us that kids would be hard work but did they tell us that they’d take a dramatic toll on our skin? No they did not. That was never mentioned in ‘Baby Love’ nor did my midwife casually drop the bombshell that you’d pop out a child and suddenly start to notice a whole network rivalling a map of the London Underground sprouting up gently around and under your eyes.

I truly thought that dark circles and fine lines were something that people who indulged in unsavoury habits (heavy drinking, smoking, ritual sacrifice of small animals) were plagued with. Oh how I laugh at myself now.

Lack of sleep, the changes wrought by hormonal shifts, getting older, logging serious hours squinting at lopsided sandcastles and catching a few winks passed out in a child rearing induced coma in front of Netflix do not a great complexion make. Our eye area in particular takes a real battering.

Did you know that the skin around our peepers is actually up to 50% thinner than the rest of the skin on our face? And not only that, our eyes can look up to 14 years older than the rest of our face? Terrifying and kind of makes you feel bad for scrubbing at your eyes with the force of a high pressure hose the last time you forgot to remove your eyeliner after a mum’s night out!

via giphy

That super thin skin is a sensitive and reactive beast. And with good reason. Our eye contours are constantly moving; a days’ worth of blinking is probably equivalent to back to back spin classes… for a week. Add to that the natural breakdown of collagen that comes with ageing and it’s easy to see why our eye area should really be treated to a long weekend at a spa. A skin routine that targets the eye area will probably be acceptable as well.

‘Specific’ and ‘tailored’ are the name of the game here. Your eye area will turn up its delicate nose if you try and slather it in your bog standard day or night cream. It wants, nay it needs, something tailored to its very particular needs. This is where the latest and greatest cutting edge skincare technology really steps up to the plate.Olay Eyes features unique technology to deliver instant results to address the most notable eye concerns including puffiness, dark circles and wrinkles and crows feet, God bless those selfless scientists who have toiled tirelessly to create products that know exactly how to treat our most pressing concerns.

For me, it’s dark circles and fine lines. And let me tell you, trying to choose which ailment to treat has not been a fun time. Standing in the supermarket, muttering to myself as to which concern to treat not only makes other shoppers give me a wide berth, it also means I leave empty handed because I can’t find a product that targets a variety of issues, that’s made by a brand I trust and is in my price range ($48.99 each). I swear the heavens smiled down on me when I discovered that one of my favourite brands, Olay, has launched Olay Eyes, a range specifically tailored to treating a range of common eye concerns.

As a former beauty editor, I’ve smeared plenty of lotions and potions over my skin. Olay has always topped my ‘supermarket faves’ list, not only due to its use of cutting edge skincare technology but because the products live up to the hype. Olay Eyes is proven to outperform #1 prestige eyes creams on the market, there’s a reason the Olay Professional range sold out in store in less than 20 minutes.

Olay Eyes has a product to address my specific eye concern.

The Olay Eyes Ultimate Eye Cream 3-in-1 De-Circler, De-Wrinkler & De-Puffer is my new Holy Grail. Remember those ‘rocking in the supermarket aisles trying to choose between treating dark circles or fine lines’ moments? A thing of the past!

The Olay Eyes Ultimate Eye Cream specifically targets both my main enemies; dark circles and wrinkles and because it’s all about the giving, also has a mean crack at Sir Puffs-A-Lot AKA the puffiness that plagues me after eating too much salt or spending my spare time reciting the plot lines of Peppa Pig at 4am.

I’ve got active ingredients Niacinamide, Glycerin and Penta-Peptide to thank for all of the above and as such, I’ve erected a small shrine in my bathroom. They may sound scientific (and they are) but broken down Niacinamide, Glycerin and Penta-Peptide combine to create a silky soft product with fantastic ‘smoothability’ (very important) that melts into the skin seamlessly on application thanks to its colour-correcting technology. Encased within this beautiful balm are ingredients that are clinically proven to treat fine lines and wrinkles, defend against dryness and soothe the aftermath of an attack from things like the sun. I think of them like teeny tiny skincare soldiers who are deployed as I apply the cream and march into battle, erasing dark circles, smoothing lines and taking the ‘puff’ out of ‘puffiness’. Don’t just take my word for it though, in clinical trials, 81% of women agreed that Olay Eyes Ultimate Eye Cream reduced the need for concealer, 86% saw a reduction in dark circles with one use and 75% saw a reduction in fine lines and wrinkles in one use. I like them odds!

Now if you happen to be one of the blessed few who don’t have dark circles (we cannot be friends) but do have a bone to pick with wrinkles (friendship tentatively restored) Olay Eyes still has you covered. The Olay Eyes Pro-Retinol Eye Treatment is specifically formulated with Olay’s best wrinkle fighting ingredients to tackle fine lines, crow’s feet and even those deep set bad boys that you think will never budge. Pro-Retinol Eye Treatment said to tell them that it’s coming for them and its bringing back up (namely Vitamin B3 and retinyl propionate who encourage the natural turnover of the skin, replacing the old, wrinkled parts with fresh, baby soft new cells.)

There’s even a prod for casting away shadows; Olay Eyes Illuminating Eye Cream AKA the dark circle buster. It reduces the production of darkness creating melanin while special particles reflect light up, up and away for a smooth, radiant and most importantly, non- Panda like appearance.